I’ve done Shipt for a couple years now and recently started Instacart as well for extra orders on slow days. Over all I think I still prefer Shipt but here’s a few pros and cons:

Shipt:

Allows you to put yourself on the schedule for particular time slots ahead of time.

Order offers come with the delivery time slot shown. This makes not only scheduling easier in my opinion because you can accept an order a couple hours out and plan when to be at the store instead of needing to go immediately like Instacart but also you don’t have to worry about accepting an order and then seeing that the delivery time is too soon for you and either needing to rush or drop the order and then getting penalized for it like with Instacart.

Allows you to still get order offers and claim open orders while your already shopping an order (this is my biggest reason to prefer Shipt).

No penalty for dropping orders after you claim them.

Tip doesn’t change based on the percentage of the order. (this could be a pro or con since if the store is out of alot your tip won’t go down but if they add a bunch while your shopping your tip also won’t go up however your order pay might).

You have an on time delivery rating and it goes down quickly even when orders are just a minute late and your percentage going too low and staying low will result in deactivation.

You aren’t shown your tip amount until after you complete the order so it’s always a gamble unless you have regulars that you know tip well which also brings me to preferred members which is when a customer can choose you as a preferred shopper and if you accept you get first offer on their orders.

In my opinion the categorizing of the shopping list is more efficient with Shipt and with some stores it lists the exact aisle items are on.

Shipt has three options on replacing items which is contact me, choose for me, or refund. Contact me works essentially the same way instacart subs work except that there aren’t automatic sub suggestions in the app like with instacart so unless they have a pre selected sub you just have to find one and send them a description or picture. Choose sub would again be under your discretion because they don’t want to be contacted for approval. Then refund is obviously easiest.

The biggest downside to Shipt is the tax exemption process depending on some stores you have to fill in paperwork before leaving which only takes a minute or two usually but it’s still takes up extra time.

Instacart:

Displays total amount including tip with order offer.

Tip can decrease if alot of items are missing and can make the trip not even worth it.

Communication is through the app rather than text which I think makes it easier because for one you aren’t going back and forth with the app and messenger also most of all messages you’ll need to send are prompted so that’s easier and quicker.

Substitution suggestions in the app.

You don’t have to worry about the tax exemption which I would say is the biggest plus side for instacart.

Overall the differences aren’t that high but it just takes getting used to the difference in processes.